Tuesday, June 16, 2009

One Step Closer To My Dream

A couple of years ago I came up with an idea to create a home-based business putting together kits to help people scrapbook their family heritage. As genealogists we are often so busy with our research that we don't have the time to also create meaningful albums to pass on to our descendants. I felt there was a niche for creating kits that would supply everything needed to quickly create 2 or more scrapbook pages. Each kit would include coordinated paper and embellishments along with a sample sketch layout. If someone was extremely busy then the pieces of the layout could even be pre-cut. This was where I originally came up with the name Scrap Your Roots. Well, I'm now one step closer to realizing my dream. This past week I put together my first sketch and layout! Now I just have to complete my website and figure out how to make it all work and I'm set to go. If only it was all as easy as I just made it sound, LOL.

The best thing about accomplishing this was that I actually got a layout done about me. A danger for us scrapbookers and family historians is to forget about ourselves. We spend hours on our family members but seldom on us. If we are not careful to make sure there are pictures of us (we're usually behind the camera not in front of it) and to document our lives our descendants will know lots about everyone else but nothing about us. How sad is that. Make sure you include yourself in your research and your scrapbooks!

I, too, am working on my genealogy-based online business, so I am familiar with the hard work and planning that goes onto it. I wish you all the best in your endeavors. I am also always the one behind the camera. You are so very correct in your reminder to not forget "us".

Do you crop those pix to 3x3 or is there some place which actually prints 3x3? I am so tired of 4x6, and wish they would at least bring back the 3x5 format of my childhood! It would work so much better with scrapbooking. Though I am not averse to cropping, that's for sure!

Karen, in this layout I used photoshop elements to crop and enhance my scans and then saved the pictures to the size I wanted. I then printed them myself on an HP Photosmart Printer. This saves a lot of time with cropping and matting (notice the white border, I trimmed 1/4" away from the photo). I haven't yet tried sending a 3x3 or other irregular size out for photofinishing so I'm not sure what the result would be. If anyone has tried this perhaps they can let us know how this works.

Welcome to my blog. Scrap Your Roots is all about preserving our family history for future generations to enjoy. I hope by visiting this blog you will be inspired to preserve your own family history for your family to enjoy!

About Me

I have been scrapbooking and researching my family history for over 10 years. I have been married for 23 years to the most wonderful and supportive husband, Roy and I have 2 amazing sons - David, 20 and Mark, 15. I love to organize and can't resist a trendy new organizing product. I'm also happily addicted to coffee and chocolate!